In a week when Joe Biden managed to meet Vladimir Putin and England vs Scotland passed off without any football-fan-related violence, we decided to undertake our own aid mission and ventured over the border into Lancashire to show them how well the Little Chaps can climb hills! This was a long walking day that definitely fitted into our "well-being" agenda, giving us some space, fresh air and time together on a lovely day.
Our weekend motivation after a long week comes courtesy of the Dales 30 list ( a great book by Jonathan Smith) and we have a private race with Granny and Grandpa to be the first to complete. Climbing to a defined Great view back into Yorkshire!
high point also helps but, sometimes, all we need is the
promise of a great day out
As we only had one day to spare this weekend, we packed our passports (!) and set off early on Saturday morning to reach the start point. The plan was to park up and then have breakfast whilst enjoying the view. Porridge and "secrets" (chocolate brioche rolls - so called because Little Chap #2 enjoys putting them in the trolley when Mummy isn't looking i.e. when Daddy wants them!) gave us the energy we needed to set off on a lovely ridge walk that ended up being the Little Chap's longest walk to date - although this is partly because we misjudged the parking and parked a little bit further down the road than necessary.
Left: Gargareth Cairns, Middle: From Gargareth towards Green Hill (one of them is the highest!!), Right: the border stone
The climbing begins almost immediately, straight up a faint path that leads directly to the summit. Some well-built cairns and a shelter inhabit a false summit before we reached the top of Gragareth and the Trig Point. We were rewarded with amazing views over the Yorkshire 3 Peaks and to the west looking over Morecombe Bay and the Lake District.
There is some discussion as to which is Lancashire's highest hill. Some claim it is Gargareth itself, which has a Trig Point and also descents on all sides. Others claim it is Green Hill, a spot height that lays just inside the borders with Yorkshire and Cumbria (the old border stone is now part of a wall and stile that you cross). We reckon it is Gargareth because it fits our description of a "proper" hill. No matter, Green Hill lies just a bit further up the ridge anyway and we headed there next. Either way, we have ticked the high point this weekend!
Over Green Hill and on to Great Coum that we reached in time for lunch. We sat by the cairn with a great view of the How Gill fells and sketched out a weekend ticking some of the summits we could see. On to Crag Hill and the second Trig Point of the day before we started to descend. A long descent towards Ease Gill which was the main point of interest for the day. Ease Gill is a dry river valley so we walked down the river bed, looking at the various dry water features. The valley has it's own little micro-climate, warm and humid, so the plants and trees were noticeably different to the rest of the day. "Just like Tropical World" said Little Chap #1.
Left: Great Coum summit, view of How Gill fells, Middle: back down the ridge, Right: Ease Gill dry river
A bit of a difficult end to the day which was uphill on a faint path over rougher terrain. However, a few cave system entrances caught our attention and the cavers we met were happy to tell the Little Chaps all about how deep the water inside was and showed some of their kit. We reached the car surprised at the distance we had covered - it wasn't planned to be quite as far as it was - and definitely ready for tea. We had planned to eat out so fish and chips in Gargrave on the way home left us all happy and satisfied with our efforts for the day.
An early start and late return home this week, but Lancashire's highest hill, 2 more of the Yorkshire Dales 30 ticked off (we are definitely pulling ahead of Granny and Grandpa now) and fish and chips - that is a good day in anyone's book!
Details of our route found here
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